Michael King is headed back into the open market.
The right-hander has turned down his 2027 player option, according to Jon Heyman of The New York Post, and will now become a free agent. As with the other 2026-27 free agents, King has a five-day exclusive window in which he can only negotiate with his former team, the Padres. After that, he’ll be able to sign with any club at 4:00 pm Central time on November 2.
This decision sends King back to free agency after a one-year run that did a lot to rebuild his value. He hit the market last winter with a strong track record from 2023 through 2025, but health questions hung over him after shoulder and knee injuries cut into the late stages of the 2025 season. Because of that uncertainty, he returned to San Diego on a shorter arrangement that still gave him a path back to free agency.
That deal was technically a three-year, $75MM guarantee. It included a $12MM signing bonus, a $5MM salary in 2026, a $28MM player option for 2027 with a $5MM buyout, and a $30MM player option for 2028.
King answered those injury concerns by staying on the mound in 2026. He logged 185 innings across 32 starts and posted a 3.21 earned run average, a modest improvement from his 3.44 mark in 2025.
His strikeout and walk rates moved the wrong way, but he generated more ground balls. Then in the postseason, he was even sharper, putting up a 0.64 ERA over three appearances.
With that kind of season behind him, the opt-out was the obvious move. King will collect the $5MM buyout and leave $53MM on the table.
He cashed in for $75MM the last time around when his health was a bigger question. Now that those concerns have eased, he should have a stronger market, even as he’s a year older.
Tarik Skubal sits atop the starting-pitching market, while King should be in the next tier with names like Trevor Rogers, Freddy Peralta and Kaima Taira. A multi-year deal in the neighborhood of $100MM could be in play.
There’s still a real chance San Diego stays in the picture. King has made it clear he likes the city, and the Padres would welcome him back.
They have plenty of rotation holes to fill after losing Walker Buehler, Robbie Ray Casey Mize, Griffin Canning and Lucas Giolito Nick Pivetta after his injury-marred season. Joe Musgrove is also an uncertainty, since his Tommy John recovery stretched through 2026 and it’s not clear he can return as a starter next year.
As it stands, the Padres’ 2027 rotation picture is thin, with Randy Vásquez, JP Sears Jhony Brito and perhaps Musgrove and/or Pivetta on the board. That’s not nearly enough, which means San Diego will be shopping for multiple starters this winter. Talks with King are inevitable, but both sides will have other options to weigh too.
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Padres Suddenly Have A Jake Cronenworth Question They Can't Ignore
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Cronenworth has long been valuable to San Diego because of his ability to handle different spots, but a Lowe addition would sharpen the question rather than soften it. The Padres would have to weigh lineup fit, defensive alignment and payroll, along with the possibility that a move this significant could ripple into trade discussions elsewhere on the roster. For a front office that has tried to balance competitiveness with financial flexibility, this is the kind of decision that can shape more than one position at once. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Suddenly Have A Rotation Problem They Can't Ignore
Michael Kings decision to decline his player option leaves the Padres facing a rotation opening they did not want to deal with this winter. After serving as a key starter for San Diego, King turned down the remaining two years and $58 million on his deal and will instead collect a $5 million buyout, putting him on the free-agent market and removing one of the most reliable arms from the staff.
For a team that has spent plenty of time trying to piece together stability on the mound, losing King is a real problem, not just a roster note. His exit creates a significant vacancy in the rotation and forces San Diego to confront a question it cant put off for long: where does that innings load now go, and how quickly can the Padres fill it? [Read more 🡒]
Padres Face A Costly Decision On Ty Frances Return
The Padres already spent the offseason watching a long list of familiar names head for free agency, and Ty France is among the most notable. A left-handed bat with a track record in San Diego, France is now projected to land a multi-year deal that would mark a clear step up from his previous earnings, which makes any reunion a more complicated conversation than a simple homecoming.
Still, there appears to be genuine interest on both sides in exploring it. France has said he would like to stay with the Padres, and the organization has shown it would consider bringing him back, but there has been no official agreement yet. For a club that has already lost Adrian Morejon and several others, the question is whether sentiment and fit are enough to justify the kind of commitment France now figures to command. [Read more 🡒]